Just watching Brubeck on BBC4 in a 1964 concert comperered by Steve Race (remember him, UK 'Catters?). I saw the quartet at the old Free Trades hall in Manchester around '65 or '66, and a great night it was. And it certainly wasn't all "cool", which was what DB got labelled. Joe Morello did a drum solo that was outstanding and original - and I'll never forget the incredulity I felt seeing him do a snare roll with just one hand while improvising all around him with the other.

Brubeck refused to take dates at clubs or concerts that wouldn't accept his bass player Gene Wright. A good man then and now.

The annual Brubeck Festival at University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA is coming up. Dave will be playing as will his son Darius, recently retired from a long successful career as the Director of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music and Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Natal.

Web page for the Brubeck Festival and the Brubeck Institute at UOP is here.